Climate Change: Energy Producing Countries Speak

11 Oct, 2007

Climate Change: Energy Producing Countries Speak

The fourth of a five-part series summarising the high-level presentations at the special UN session on 24 Sept 2007 under the theme: “The Future in Our Hands: Addressing The Leadership Challenge Of Climate Change”.

CLIMATE CHANGE: ENERGY PRODUCING COUNTRIES SPEAK (Part 4 of 5)

This is the fourth of a five-part series summarising the high-level presentations at the special UN session on 24 Sept 2007 under the theme: “The Future in Our Hands: Addressing The Leadership Challenge Of Climate Change”. The statements by the energy producing countries reflect shared global concerns along with one new one – they are dependent on their own sources of energy, and will also need to adapt accordingly.

In this series of dispatches, the statements delivered at the UN session have been edited down to keypoints and quotes, saving my readers time in downloading and wading through reams of often repetitive and boring verbiage. The first two sets of statements were covered in TIN Editions 56 and 57. The fifth and final dispatch will cover the views of the industrialized countries. Groundbreaking journalism and service to the travel & tourism industry, only from Travel Impact Newswire.

1. ALI IBRAHIM AL-NAIMI, MINISTER OF PETROLEUM AND MINERAL RESOURCES, SAUDI ARABIA: We are concerned by the selective nature of policies and measures adopted by some industrialised countries to address climate change

2. MANOUCHEHR MOTTAKI, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, IRAN: Disaster risk reduction and building the resilience of communities and nations to disasters remain the most important challenges

3. RAFAEL CORREA, PRESIDENT OF ECUADOR: We need compensation for the damage caused by the out of proportion emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialized countries

4. AHMAD BIN ABDULLAH AL-MAHMOUD, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, QATAR: The international community has not kept its promises to facilitate the transfer of modern technology and increase financial resources for the developing countries

5. SHEIKH ABDULLAH BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: The first World Summit on Energy for the Future in will be held in the UAE in January 2008.

6. A. KAMILOV, AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN TO THE UNITED STATES: Water resources, agriculture and public health are the highest priority sectors to be protected from consequences of climate change.

7. NURLAN ISKAKOV, MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, KAZAKHSTAN: Climate change is the result of mankind’s irrational, ill-balanced encroachment on the environmental systems

8. UMARU MUSA YAR ’ADUA, PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA: Africa contributes the least to global warming but is the most vulnerable and most adversely affected by climate change

9. BONI YAYI, PRESIDENT OF BENIN, ON BEHALF OF THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES: International community has moral and historical responsibilities to assist LDCs

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I would like to emphasize the importance of building on the internationally agreed principles, norms and commitments made in the “Rio Declaration”, in addition to the principles set forth in the Framework Convention on Climate Change and its associated legal instruments. One of the key principles, is the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities among developed and developing countries; and the principle of fair burden sharing; in addition to the principle of non-bias against specific goods in the framework of international trade when adopting policies for addressing climate change.

Saudi Arabia wishes to express concern about the selective nature of policies and measures adopted by some industrialized countries to address climate change. In this regard, some countries are adding to already high existing taxes on petroleum products, while at the same time continuing to provide direct and indirect subsidies to both coal and nuclear power industries, which are more polluting to the climate and global environment. On top of that, market interventions are being made with the aim of influencing the relative cost of energy sources, leading to market distortions. All these measures will undoubtedly have a negative impact on world oil demand over the coming decades. This will negatively impact sustainable development in our country, and will result in us shouldering much more than our fair share of the burden in combating climate change.

In spite of our substantial efforts to achieve economic diversification and reduce our heavy dependence on the export of crude oil, we are still at the beginning of the road and we need the international community to cooperate with us to achieve this goal through technology transfer and increased foreign investment. We trust that the new climate change agreement will include provisions to prevent discriminatory measures against oil, and help us and other Petroleum exporting countries to achieve economic diversification as a tool to increase resilience against the adverse impacts of response measures designed to address climate change.

The call for moving away from fossil fuel consumption as a way to address climate change is not a viable or practical alternative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in light of the availability of carbon capture and storage as well as highly efficient technologies, which would allow the international community to continue using fossil fuels, but in a cleaner way. This continuation shall contribute to the protection of the global environment on one hand, and reduces the burden on the international economy and nations that depend heavily on oil exports on the other.

Therefore, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia encourages the wide use of such technological solutions rather than aiming for dispensing fossil fuels or imported oil in a world of global interdependence. In this regard and to ensure continued access to the ample reserves of fossil fuels, the international community must intensify its efforts in the scientific research and technological development to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to achieve the global quest for sustainable development, from the use of these resources. From our side, we are ready to increase our contributions in this field through our specialized Research and Development centers and our universities lead by King Abdullah University for Science and Technology.

Through the use of technological solutions the world can continue to rely on oil without harming the global climate. Saudi Arabia is ready to bear its fair share in addressing climate change and the impacts associated with it.

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2. MANOUCHEHR MOTTAKI, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, IRAN: Disaster risk reduction and building the resilience of communities and nations to disasters remain the most important challenges

The United Nations system and particularly UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol remain the most appropriate mechanisms for intergovernmental negotiations on climate change with a view to explore ways and means to meet this global challenge. We are of the view that climate change can not and should not be considered in isolation and regardless of the other environmental challenges, or irrespective of the developmental pillars of sustainable development. Besides, the relationship between climate change, economic growth, and poverty eradication as well as their mutual impacts are very well recognized.

To tackle this challenge of global nature, we should attach great importance to the internationally agreed principles; such as the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” as a basis for our future negotiations. I would like to refer to the historical responsibility of industrialized nations for producing greenhouse gas emissions. We take note with concern that greenhouse gas emissions in most developed countries are still rising at an alarming rate, while there is no hope for dramatic reduction or mitigation efforts in the near future. Industrialized countries should take the lead and spare no efforts in mitigating the emissions.

On the other hand, it is predictable that emissions in developing countries would inevitably grow as they need to consume more energy to pursue their economic and social development plans. The adverse ramifications of climate change and the impacts of response measures on developing countries must be taken fully into consideration in any envisaged legal framework for the post Kyoto era aimed at tackling the problem of climate change.

The collective efforts for mitigation and adaptation should be made in a way that, not only do not hamper, but also do support the implementation of national development strategies and plans in developing countries and facilitate the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals including the Millennium Development Goals. Given the huge gap between climate change mitigation requirements and the existing financial resources, an increase in funding by donor countries is essential, without prejudice to funding the other environmental challenges. Enhancement and facilitating the access of developing countries to cleaner, advanced and appropriate technologies, related to mitigation and adaptation, is critical for enabling these countries to respond to the challenges posed by climate change.

As climate change is a global phenomenon, having mostly emerged as a by-product of the polluting development pathways of the North, adapting to its adverse effects should also be adequately financed by industrial countries. To make adaptation more effective and sustainable, we must move beyond reducing vulnerability and aim at enhancing resilience to consequences of climate change. This will require comprehensive adaptation strategies that would cover almost all economic sectors such as agriculture, forestry, land use, coastal zone management, industry, etc.

However, there is a huge gap between financial needs for such broad adaptation measures and the existing resources. I propose that the Adaptation Fund under the Kyoto Protocol be expanded and its resources be scaled up in order to make it more effective in funding adaptation costs in developing countries. In this regard, special needs and concerns of developing countries must be taken into account.

Unfortunately, natural disasters, including those disasters related to climate change, are on rise in terms of frequency, severity, economic loss, and human casualties. Hence, disaster risk reduction and building the resilience of communities and nations to disasters; as well as strengthening the national and regional capacities of the developing countries for rapid response remain one of the most important challenges we face at present and in the future.

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3. RAFAEL CORREA, PRESIDENT OF ECUADOR: We need compensation for the damage caused by the out of proportion emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialized countries

Climate Change does not have borders; nevertheless it is necessary to underline that its distribution and impacts are inequitable. Whereas an average US citizen generates six tons of carbon per year and an average European citizen generates near 3 tons per year, the world average of emission of carbon per capita approaches 1.3 tons per year, with a great asymmetry. This is a reality that establishes with clarity where the major responsibilities reside in the affectation to the environment and to the life of the planet.

This situation does not pretend to disown the increasing emissions of some developing countries, but to demonstrate that the present model of growth, based on the intensive use of fossil fuel and in the over consumption, it is an untenable model whose benefits reach to a “privileged” minority of the modem society, but that enormously harms all of us.

In the last years, the climate disasters have cost the life of more than 3 million people in the world, 800 million victims and immediate damages that surpass the 23,000 million dollars. Of these damages, 90% have happened in the developing countries.

Ecuador is a marginal country in terms of emissions (less of 1% of the world-wide total), but in which the impacts of the Climate Change could cause the gradual transformation of tropical forests on savannahs; the replacement of semi-arid vegetation in barren; a significant loss of the biodiversity; and the backward movement of glaciers and changes in the precipitation regime with potential impacts in the availability of water for human consumption.

The measures of adaptation to the Climate Change represent a heavy burden on the budgets of developing countries that could ascend to 40,000 million dollars, according to the studies of the World Bank. We do not need loans to execute the adaptation. That would increase the burden of our external debt. What we need is the compensation for the damages caused by the out of proportion amount of historical and current emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialized countries. In other words, the inequality in the origin and the distribution of the effects of the global warming can not be inadvertent on this Climate Change Debate.

Nevertheless, Ecuador is arranged to enormous sacrifices, with justice and creativity, to resist the global warming. The Initiative of the Ecuadorian Government to maintain crude of oil ITT underground — reserve that is located in an ecological zone highly sensible called Yasuni — means the commitment of not exploding near 920 million petroleum barrels and therefore, conserve one of the most bio divers regions of the world. Nevertheless, this will imply not to receive enormous investments and loose near 720 million dollars on investments, this is a very significant amount for a small country of 13 million habitants and around 6 million in poverty. We are arranged to make this immense sacrifice, but demanding co responsibility from the international community and a minimum compensation for the environmental goods that we generate and from which all the planet benefits.

The model Yasuni’-ITT, fostered by the Ecuadorian government, will prevent the emission of around 111 million tons of carbon produced by burning oil. The cost of opportunity for Ecuador for not exploiting the crude is at least of 10 to 15 dollars per barrel. Nevertheless, Ecuador requests a small contribution of 5 dollars per barrel, to conserve the biodiversity, to protect the indigenous population, who lives in the area on a voluntary isolation and to prevent carbon dioxide emissions. The total amount we request is of approximately 4.600 million dollars. This would be an extraordinary example of world-wide collective action to reduce the global warming in benefit of the entire planet.

Our proposal also includes the establishment of the Yasuni-ITT Environmental Fund, oriented to the fulfillment of the National Plan of Development, that it includes, among others, the diversification of energy sources, the development of capacities and investments in echo-tourism and the application of an integral agenda that includes health, education and environmental remediation.

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Achieving the goals of sustainable development is subject to creating a favorable international environment that is based on the legitimate development priorities of the developing countries, that address the fundamental challenges of financing development, globalization, and market access in export sectors of interest to them. The findings of the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change regarding the impact of climate change on sustainable development have raised concern for many people. They suggest that climate change affects all States, but that its has devastating impact on the developing countries, especially in Africa and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and Land-Locked Countries (LLCs), and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), due to their lack of means and limited capacities to adapt.

In order to strengthen the capacity to adapt, and to implement effective measures, developing countries need additional development and investment assistance so they would be capable of implementing their development programs and strategies that would help them adapt to and mitigate the devastating effects of climate change.

While the international community made many promises to meet its commitments to facilitate the transfer of modern technology to and increase financial resources for the developing countries, these promises have not been kept and modern technology remains elusive for the developing countries and LDCs due to their unaffordable prices resulting from the intellectual property laws currently in effect. This state of affairs underlines the need for a multilateral trading and financial, non-discriminatory, open and transparent system, in addition to the full participation of the developing countries in the formulation of international policies and decision-making processes.

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5. SHEIKH ABDULLAH BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: The first World Summit on Energy for the Future in will be held in the UAE in January 2008.

The United Arab Emirates’ concern about climate change is not new; it is a continuation of the convictions of the founder of the UAE and its first President H.H the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who had recognized many decades ago, the importance of protecting and preserving the environment. Acting out of the same convictions, the UAE adopted in 2002 the national environment strategy and its plan of action, which considers conservation and protection of the environment as one of the main pillars to the achievement of sustainable development, and ensured the integration of environment dimension in all aspects of development activities.

The UAE recognizes the scope and seriousness of the challenges emanating from the climate change, and the threat they pose to peace, security and stability in many countries, especially developing ones. The UAE has launched an initiative to establish a new economic sector focusing on alternative permanent energy sources called Massdar Program. It is intended to assist in guiding and diversifying the economy and maintaining stability in the international energy market, transference to Massdar for technology and contributing in sustainable human development through four main elements: Technology, transference, human resources and infrastructure.

Massdar Initiative includes six strategically important that include: Massdar Institute for science and technology unit which focuses on advanced technology and support technology for developing the economy of information through an international cooperative research network; Investment and Renovation unit which manages relevant investment funds; Special Enterprises unit which works on developing special projects, wide range strategies and capital intensity; and Carbon Management unit which focuses on developing the management of carbon reduction projects aiming to gain opportunities for marketing local carbon according to the Kyoto Protocol and the establishment of Massdar Area (the green city) which is a complete green assembly of commercial businesses, research and industry that aims to achieve zero carbon and zero environment disposals.

In order to mobilize national, regional and international efforts in areas such as energy for the future and advanced technology for energy, the UAE hosted last February the world summit on sustainable Energy Resources in Arid regions and it is preparing to host the first World Summit on Energy for the Future in January 2008.

The UAE emphasizes the importance of reinforcing global partnership in dealing with the climate change. This calls for developed countries to play a more effective role and commit to the implementation of the outcomes and recommendations of treaties, international conferences on environment and sustainable development, especially UNCCC and the recommendations of the international conference on financing for development.

We also call for taking necessary cautions in looking at endeavors aiming to enforce high ratios of emission reduction after Kyoto’s first commitment period (2008- 2012) as it will have serious effects on the interests and economies of oil producing and exporting countries.

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In 1999 Tashkent issued the First National Report of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Climate Change, which emphasized a number of national quantitative and qualitative studies concerning the emission of greenhouse gases, inventorying them and developing potential methods to reduce them.

The Report also assessed the vulnerability of the national economy and environment in light of possible climate change produced by global warming. In 2001 within the framework of the Second Phase of the First National Report of Uzbekistan’s Framework Convention on Climate Change our nation assessed the technology requirements of key sectors of its economy and developed fundamental proposals to alleviate the potential effects of climate change as well as major programs designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the country.

Uzbekistan is currently preparing its Second National Report on climate change, which will include drawing up an inventory of greenhouse gases, development of climate change scenarios for the coming decades, research identifying the vulnerabilities of key sectors of economy, identification of necessary measures to alleviate the possible consequences of climate change and the development of a national strategy on adapting to climate change. The Second National Report of the Republic of Uzbekistan on climate change is due for completion in 2008.

The reason for the relatively high greenhouse gas emission rates in Uzbekistan and their steady growth since 1990 in comparison to neighboring CIS countries is the high energy-intensiveness of Uzbekistan’s economy. Therefore, improving the energy efficiency of the GDP becomes the main venue for reducing the greenhouse gases.

Despite rise in growth in overall greenhouse emissions in Uzbekistan, during 1990-2005 the emissions per capita have decreased by 14%. This was a result of structural reforms in key sectors of economy, which were needed in order to increase services while improving the efficiency of energy consumption. Furthermore, Uzbekistan has implemented an Energy Saving program covering the period until 2010 in order to increase energy efficiency of GDP.

A portfolio of more than 50 project proposals in the key sectors of economy is being drawn up and will be presented at the National Clean Development Mechanism Forum in Uzbekistan during October 29-30, 2007. The government has identified water resources, agriculture and our population’s health as the highest priority sectors to be protected from the possible consequences of Climate Change.

An evaluation of the vulnerability of priority sectors of Uzbekistan economy in adapting to the consequences of Climate Change determined that over the next 20-30 years in Uzbekistan one could expect the following:

<> A further rise in average air temperature by 1.5-20C;

<> An increase in the recurrence of high temperatures in Uzbekistan with increasing thermal discomfort as a result of rising temperatures and air moisture;

<> A continuing reduction of glaciation and annual snowfalls;

<> Rising deficits in national water resources, as none of the projected “climatic warming” scenarios postulate any increase in Uzbekistan’s current water resources;

<> An increase of evaporation due to rising temperatures will increase water losses in irrigated zones that will result in additional water consumption;

<> Uzbekistan’s currently irrigated agricultural areas will see rising shortages of water, drought and even such possible extreme consequences as floods, mudflow and avalanches;

<> An increase in desertification and a rise in salinization of irrigated lands;

<> A decrease in agricultural output;

<> An increase in the effects of rising heat on the health of the population and livestock;

<> An increased risk of the spread of some infectious diseases.

In order to reduce the potential negative consequences of climate change our government is intent to take the following steps:

<> orient development programs in all branches of economy towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions;

<> intensify the use of the renewable sources of energy;

<> reform the housing and community sectors to emphasize the efficiency of energy and fuel consumption;

<> optimize the management and usage of water resources;

<> introduce water saving technologies in agriculture;

<> develop methods of remote monitoring of agricultural zones and crops’ conditions;

<> develop and introduce drought- resistant and salt-tolerant plant cultures;

<> strengthen methods to control of the spread of infectious diseases and expand preventive measures focusing on vulnerable population sectors during the summer.

For the preparation and presentation of adaptive projects and proposals Uzbekistan needs technical and financial support from the international community. Climate change is not solely Uzbekistan’s problem, it is a problem of growing concern to all developing countries worldwide.

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7. NURLAN ISKAKOV, MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, KAZAKHSTAN: Climate change is the result of mankind’s irrational, ill-balanced encroachment on the environmental systems

Scientific research proves convincingly that this change was largely brought about by mankind’s irrational, ill-balanced encroachment on the environmental systems, by deforestation, desertification, and the production of a colossal amount of toxic waste. Mankind needs a transition to a sustainable development framework as the basic paradigm of its existence.

What we are facing is not merely the task of lowering greenhouse gases emissions alone, but rather one of creating an international system of industrial emissions management. It is not just an issue of “carbon credits” or other arrangements for “emissions trading”, but one of bridging the technological gap between different countries of the world.

Kazakhstan has adopted the Concept for Transition of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Sustainable Development for the 2007 to 2024 period. The Concept is directed at continued economic growth in Kazakhstan on the basis of more efficient use of resources, while lowering environmental and climate impacts.

The Concept provides for creation of trans-border sustainable development zones in keeping with the watershed principle, to promote solving environmental problems and stabilizing climate. Kazakhstan has already taken steps at establishing the first such zone in the basin of the Ile River and lakes Balkhash and Alakol, in cooperation with China and the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. We believe this initiative may be supported by the United Nations.

For the first time specific quantitative targets have been set for the economic, social and demographic and environmental areas of development. In particular, carbon emissions per unit of GDP are to be reduced by 2024 to about one third of their current level. Council on Sustainable Development has been established and is active in Kazakhstan.

The Environmental Code was passed in the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2007. The Code brings environmental legislation of the country into harmony with the best international practices. It contains articles legislating environmental foundations of sustainable development, and a separate chapter regulating greenhouse gases emissions.

Kazakhstan has developed the Strategy for Efficient and Sustainable Management of Renewable Resources and Sources of Energy. The country possesses huge resources of wind, solar and geothermal energy. The strategy provides for measures to gradually replace non-renewable sources of energy with the alternative ones. It sets the goal of bringing up the share of alternative sources in energy consumption between now and 2024 by as much as 250 times. As a result, greenhouse gases emissions should be reduced considerably.

Kazakhstan has adopted and started implementing the President’s program entitled “30 Corporate Leaders”. Projects supported under the program will be aimed at establishing highly energy efficient enterprises, with minimal emissions of greenhouse gases. Kazakhstan envisions establishing a Eurasia Water Center – a major science and production association that would develop break-through technologies of water management and tackle environmental problems of watersheds in the region. Besides, a Solar Center for Renewable Resources and Sources of Energy – the first in Central Asia-is to be established.

While being both an Asian and a European country, Kazakhstan takes action aimed at converging European and Asian approaches to sustainable development. To this end, conferences of ministers of the environment, economy and social welfare of countries of Asia and the Pacific are to be organized in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, in 2010 and those of countries of Europe and Central Asia – in 2011. We also believe that Kazakhstan is entitled to host the regular Earth Summit in 2017, which might have issues of climate conservation by transition to sustainable development as its main theme.

Compared to 1992, carbon intensity of the country’s economy decreased by half, and we consider it as a substantial contribution to fighting “greenhouse effect”. Large-scale projects are under way in the country on land use improvement and reforestation. This will help create new considerable carbon sinks. An area of 100,000 hectares of land has been reforested over the last 5 years.

Kazakhstan has made significant headway in rehabilitation of the Aral Sea, having revived the so-called Small Aral. This demonstrates humankind capacity to counter even the most serious of environmental disasters. We believe, the International Fund for Aral Sea Saving has to be brought under the aegis of the United Nations, emphasizing thereby the role of the international community in overcoming this environmental problem.

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8. UMARU MUSA YAR ’ADUA, PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA: Africa contributes the least to global warming but is the most vulnerable and most adversely affected by climate change

The African continent is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, a vulnerability that is compounded by the continent’s massive infrastructure deficit, endemic poverty, and disease burden.

Nigeria, with a population of over 140 million and growing at the rate of over 2% per annum, is extremely vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The combined effects of desertification and soil erosion in the northern and southern parts of the country respectively, continue to adversely impact on our agriculture, energy, bio-diversity and water resources. Nigeria’s adaptation strategy is therefore, necessarily, mainstreamed into its developmental policies.

The realities in Africa bear remarkable testimony to how climate change and sustainable development are inexorably intertwined. For us in Nigeria, effectively operationalising the Government’s adaptation strategy has resulted in the diversion of scarce resources from some of our Millennium Development Goals-related development initiatives. The adverse effects of climate change have not only impacted negatively on the capacity of African countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but have also been a major contributing factor to some of the conflicts in the continent. This has been one of the most serious obstacles to combating poverty on the continent.

Nigeria is actively involved in the Green Wall Sahara Initiative, which was launched in Abuja in December 2006 to, among other things, check and reverse desert encroachment. It has now been adopted as an AU project, for which I urge the international community’s support. In addition, Nigeria is committed to the implementation of the NEPAD environmental initiative, particularly in the control of erosion, flood and coastal management.

Africa is not benefiting much from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). It is pertinent therefore, to revitalize and strengthen this mechanism to ensure that African countries draw maximum benefits. I also believe that developing countries can be assisted in effectuating their adaptation strategies if developed countries fulfill their commitments under the United Nations Frame Work Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to provide financial resources and transfer technology to developing countries. We support the view that the Global Environment Facility (GEF) could be made more easily accessible for adaptation projects.

Africa contributes the least to global warming but the region is the most vulnerable and most adversely affected by climate change; and because African countries lack the capacity and financial resources to adapt to climate change, the international community needs to treat the continent as a special case. There is the critical need to intensify financial support, transfer of appropriate and affordable technology, and capacity building to assist African countries in meeting with the challenges of climate change.

We in Africa would like to stress the need to operationalise, as soon as possible, the Special Climate Change and Adaptation Funds to assist developing countries. Nigeria is hosting the Preparatory Meeting of the African Group of Negotiations under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, in Abuja in October 2007 to ensure the effective coordination and harmonization of the African Group position and our commitment to the success of the Bali Conference.

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9. BONI YAYI, PRESIDENT OF BENIN, ON BEHALF OF THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES: International community has moral and historical responsibilities to assist LDCs

I wish to share with you, with a sense of urgency, the anxiety of LDCs. The rate at which the planet has been warming in the last century is higher than it ever was in previous centuries. To give a specific example, in Benin, my country, it is predicted that the economic capital, Cotonou, would be totally swallowed up in the long term. Cotonou is indeed located below the current sea level and is only protected from floods by a narrow strip of sand which continuously shrinks as coastal erosion progresses unabated.

Similarly, in Africa, Asia, Pacific and Caribbean countries, climate change translates into large scale natural disasters: storms, floods, storm waves, landslides and avalanches. Drought and desertification add to this already gloomy picture. They are already part of the daily life of numerous African people. From water scarcity, lack of public hygiene to water contamination, governments of LDCs face everyday issues related to food security and public health in a context of precariousness and limited resources.

If climate issues do not know boundaries, LDCs are among the most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Their human, economic and infrastructural conditions severely limit their capacity to face the challenges paused by the impacts of climate change and to institute adaptation weavers.

Considering the outrageous cost of adaptation in our States, it is necessary to insist on the necessity of a general mobilization that should translate into concrete actions and be based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility. Not only adaptation measures are needed for vulnerable countries, but measures for reducing green house gases are also essential in the most polluting countries.

We welcome the efforts already made by Parties to the Convention to meet the specific needs and concerns of least developed countries, in particular concerning adaptation. Thus, the National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs), based on a country-driven approach, provide the LDCs with a process to identify and implement priority activities that respond to their specific and urgent needs.

We urge the international Community to continue to support LDCs in their efforts to implement activities for the assessment of vulnerability, for the implementation of adaptation strategies, for the enhancement of their capacity, including institutional capacity, in order to integrate adaptation to climate change into their sustainable development programmes.

It is additionally important to support the elaboration of NAPAs. The international Community should give attention to the promotion of the transfer of adaptation technologies in favor of least developed countries. Such support should aim at strengthening local capacities for forecasting natural disasters and ensuring the protection of the populations. This requires a transfer of technology and the establishment of appropriate infrastructure, as well as accompanying measures and sharing knowledge resulting from research activities related to climate change. Constraints related to food security and increase in international migratory movements should receive the attention that they deserve.

LDCs will need additional resources to fund programmes to address their energy issues and promote their access to clean and affordable energy sources. LDCs propose that large scale research in the area of technologies and programmes of deployment of technology be stressed. It is necessary to invite big industries to lead the fight against polluting energies by developing clean energies in all areas. The fight against global warming goes through technological innovations and the transfer of these technologies to the poorest countries.

The international community has moral and historical responsibilities to assist least developed countries in mitigating the adverse impact of climate change and in increasing their capacity for adaptation in order to accelerate economic growth and sustainable development so as to meet the goals set in the Brussels Programme of Action. These goals are essential parameters to evaluate the implementation of the millennium development goals for the development of least developed countries.

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Climate Change: Energy Producing Countries Speak

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